On Aug. 21, 1567, St. Francis de Sales, the Roman Catholic bishop of Geneva and doctor of the church, was born in Thorens-Glieres, France.
In 1680 Pueblo Indians captured Santa Fe in present-day New Mexico after driving out the Spanish.
In 1831 former slave Nat Turner led a violent anti-slavery insurrection in Virginia’s Southampton County. (After his capture, he was hanged Nov. 11.)
In 1858 senatorial contenders Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas held the first of their seven famous debates.
In 1904 jazz musician and bandleader William “Count” Basie was born in Red Bank, N.J.
In 1940 exiled Bolshevik revolutionary Leon Trotsky died of ax wounds inflicted by an assassin in Mexico City; he was 61.
In 1945 President Harry Truman ended the Lend-Lease program that had shipped $50 billion in aid to Allies during World War II.
In 1987 Sgt. Clayton Lonetree, the first Marine ever court-martialed for spying, was convicted in Quantico, Va., of passing secrets to the KGB. (Lonetree was released from military prison in Ft. Leavenworth, Kan., in February 1996 after serving less than 9 years of his original 30-year sentence.)
In 1991 the hard-line coup against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev collapsed in the face of a popular uprising led by Russian Federation President Boris Yeltsin.
In 2002 a San Diego jury convicted David Westerfield of kidnapping 7-year-old Danielle van Dam from her home and killing her. (Westerfield later was sentenced to death.)
In 2003 the French government acknowledged as many as 10,000 people might have died in a heat wave. Also in 2003 Paul Hamm became the first American man to win the all-around gold medal at the World Gymnastics Championship.
